Taking Care of His Best Friend's Wife Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Breaking Point

A week later, his mother insisted on a "family dinner" at our home. A last-ditch effort to force a reconciliation. The air in the dining room was thick enough to choke on. Lu Chen sat across from me, his gaze alternating between pleading and defensive. Su Qing, of course, was there. "She has no one else," his mother had insisted.

She looked radiant. Glowing. Her hand rested protectively on her small bump, a silent, triumphant flag.

"I hope the soup wasn't too bland the other day, Sister Lin Wan," she said, her voice a sickly sweet simper. "I know your... condition... must leave you with no appetite."

I said nothing. I just looked at her, then at Lu Chen. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Lin Wan is fine," he said, but it lacked conviction.

"Are you sure?" Su Qing pressed, her eyes wide with fake concern. "You look so pale. So... thin. It must be so hard, being in this big house all by yourself now."

That was it. The carefully constructed dam of my composure cracked. "I'd rather be alone in this house," I said, my voice clear and cutting, "than be a pitiful third wheel in my own marriage."

The table went silent.

Su Qing's face crumpled. A single, perfect tear traced down her cheek. "How... how can you say that? I would never... We're family..."

Lu Chen was on his feet in an instant. "Lin Wan! Apologize! Now! Can't you see how fragile she is?"

"Fragile?" I laughed, a harsh, broken sound. "She's strong enough to steal a husband and carve out a life funded by his wife's savings. She's not fragile, Lu Chen. She's a parasite."

"Enough!" he roared. He came around the table, his face a thundercloud. Su Qing let out a delicate sob and reached for him. "You think I wanted this? You pushed me away! You became this... this cold, bitter woman! She understands me! She needs me!"

"And I needed my husband!" I screamed back, rising to my feet. "I needed him when I was sick with his child! I needed him when I was losing that child on a cold bathroom floor while he was holding her hand at a doctor's appointment!"

The words hung in the air, raw and bleeding.

His mother gasped. Su Qing looked momentarily stunned.

Lu Chen's face was a twisted mess of guilt and rage. He stepped towards me, his hand shooting out not to hit me, but to grab my arm, to shake me, to make me stop.

I flinched back, my hip connecting sharply with the solid edge of the dining table. A searing, white-hot pain exploded in my abdomen. My legs gave way.

I fell.

The world swam. There was shouting. My mother's cry. The clatter of chairs.

I felt a warm, wet sensation spreading between my legs. I looked down. A dark red stain was blooming against the pale fabric of my trousers.

Lu Chen stared at the stain, his face ashen. The anger was gone, replaced by a dawning, gut-wrenching horror.

"You..." I whispered, the pain making it hard to breathe. "You were there when she saw her baby's heartbeat... Weren't you?"

His eyes met mine, wide with terror.

I managed one last, shattered sentence before the darkness took me.

"Our baby... was gone weeks ago. The day you were choosing her."